Will Retaliate If China Provokes, Sources After Rajnath Singh's Meet

Defense Minister Rajnath Singh held a meeting today with Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat to review the situation on tension in the Ladakh along the Line of Actual Control.  The three service chiefs -- and the three Service chiefs -- Army chief General MM Naravane, Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh and Air chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria  -- also attended the meeting, sources said.

The review meeting was held ahead of Mr Singh's visit to Moscow tomorrow -- exactly a week after the violence in Ladakh's Galwan Valley in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed and 76 injured. The defence minister will attend a grand military parade in Moscow to mark the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Germany in the World War II.

Sources said it was decided at the meeting that India has not increased the tension on the Line of Actual Control -- which acts as the de factor border with China -- but if the other side increases the tension, the country will respond in the same language.

The meeting also reviewed the preparedness of the forces and the situation on the LAC, where tension has been on since April, the sources added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already clarified that the army should take decisions and take whatever action is necessary in view of the ground situation.

The army and the air force have been ramping up their operational capabilities along the LAC to effectively deal with any Chinese manoeuvre.

At an all-party meeting on Friday, PM Modi had said that China has not captured any Indian territory or crossed the borders.

"While we have given a free hand to our armed forces, diplomatically too we have made our stand clear to China. India wants peace and friendship but protecting its sovereignty is supreme," he had said.